May 18, 2008

Complete Results

ATLANTA, Ga. - The University of Richmond outdoor track & field competed at the Georgia Tech Invitational this weekend, with three Spiders making final preparations for the NCAA East Regional Championship May 30-31, while Pierre Turner set a new school record in the discus.

Turner, a junior who also plays football for the Spiders, had three throws over the school record of 47.39m, which was set by Mark Bower in 2000. His marks of 49.60m, 49.53m and 49.35m all broke the previous school record, with his best of 49.60m being good for seventh place.

The Lawrenceville, Ga. native was the bronze-medalist in the discus at the 2008 A-10 Championship.

"We couldn't be happier for Pierre," said head men's coach Steve Taylor. "He's wanted this school record for three years and went into this meet with that in mind and just narrowly missed the NCAA Regional Qualifying mark in the process. It was a great effort by him to perform extremely well in a competitive field."

Freshman Nicol Traynor, who clinched an NCAA Regional spot in the 5,000, ran the 1,500 at Georgia Tech and finished 18th in a time of 4:38.72.

Shelby Faircloth was 14th in the 5,000 in a time of 18:27.16, while Megan Ney was 16th in the long jump (5.55m). Monica Howard took 14th in the discus (40.38m) and was 15th in the hammer (44.52m).

On the men's side, a pair of Spiders will compete in the NCAA Regional, with sophomore Andrew Benford running both the 3,000m steeplechase and the 5,000 and senior Jonathan Molz running the 3,000m steeplechase.

This weekend saw Benford take seventh in the 3,000m steeplechase in a time of 9:07.29, while Molz was 25th in the 1,500m (3:56.20).

Matt Llano took ninth in the 5,000 (15:15.19) and Hunter Willis took 14th in the same event (15:54.51).

The NCAA East Regional Championship is hosted by Florida State University in Tallahassee.